During STX Entertainment's presentation at this year's CinemaCon, Sylvester Stallone announced that he was attached to star in a new thriller from the studio, and now Deadline is reporting that the film has found a director in the form of COLD IN JULY and WE ARE WHAT WE AREhelmerJim Mickle.

The untitled project (previously known as GODFORSAKEN) will see Stallone playing "an aging ex-con with more regrets than memories. Upon hearing about his son’s death his solitude is quickly broken as he must now protect the only family he has left and avenge a son he hardly knew." Mickle, who was also behind the camera for 2010's STAKE LAND and 2006's MULBERRY STREET and co-created the SundanceTV series Hap and Leonard, will be directing from a script by Daniel Casey.

Stallone's animated pic ANIMAL CRACKERS is due out sometime next year, while Mickle is currently developing a big screen adaptation of the John N. Maclean novel The Esperanza Fire for Legendary.